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CLA33 xXo. No. 

?73 // 

COPY B 



Copyright, 1904, 

By LITTLE, 'BROWN, AND COMPANY. 


All rights reserved 


Published October, 1904 


LC Control Number 



tmp96 030788 


THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A. 








CONTENTS 


Jan the Lion Killer 
A Story for Frances 
The Enchanted Elephant 
The Old Leaf 
The Arkonautic Expedition 
In the Miz 

The Katabasis of Paul . 
















Full-Page Illustrations in Color 


All the men, women, and boys and girls, and dogs began to 


run along with Jan and the farmer. 

Frontispiece 


w Because,” said the face, 44 I am the Head of Tide Water ” 

Page 

18 


“They’ve had their bowl mended, and now they are going 




off on another voyage”. 

U 

2 9 


Paul and Bimbo and Totzo had taken flight, and were far 




away over the water. 

u 

72 


Paul and Elsie and Ted were looking out upon a very rainy 




day. 

u 

77 


The Welsh Rabbit took another bite of toasted bread, and 




sobbed aloud. 

u 

97 


He looked at Paul with an icy stare, and bowed stiffly . 

u 

129 


The scarecrow was so sympathetic that they became great 




friends. 

u 

155 


Illustrations in the Text 




Then he climbed into a tree that hung over the spring . 

Pag, 

? 7 


When Jan was dressed in his royal suit . 

« 

9 


She was a very narrow woman. 

CC 

10 


The King and the Queen and all the people were in despair 

u 

12 


Then Jan went down to the beach. 

u 

15 


In a policeman’s uniform, sitting pn a very large beet . . 

a 

l 9 


Slid the rope over his head and led him off. 

a 

21 


Then he and the Prince and the porcupine started for home 

a 

23 




















ILLUSTRATIONS 


viii 


The man sat in his armchair trying to think. 

A little girl poured them some tea. 

The boy was already far ahead and did n’t hear .... 

He lifted the Man in his great strong bill. 

Out trotted a brown bear made all of shaggy sticks of 

cinnamon. 

Met three little boys crying bitterly. 

He tripped over the rubbers. 

44 He will give you a little girl of your own ”. 

On each side of him were growing six crimson and gold 

tulips. 

44 This one,” said she, 44 is the table of twelves ” . 

Having a tea-party. 

Paul stood watching him. 

On they went, Paul and Bimbo and Totzo and the Snow-man 

He dipped up several cups of hot chocolate. 

44 Oh, that proud thing ”. 

He made a low bow to Bimbo. 

The night before Christmas. 

All the children joined hands and danced around it . 

Paul worked very hard. 

What she saw was this. 

There was a whisk of a red tail, and Mr. Fox scurried by 
‘‘Swept me along among soft gray rolls of dust ” . . . . 

They had to swim for their lives. 

They were in terror lest they should step off and lose their 

way. 

With a tremendous tug he brought it up. 

Joan was looking dreamily over their heads. 

On the eaves of the house was a little dried-up old man . . 


Page 28 
44 30 

“ 33 


u 

« 

u 


« 


37 

39 

43 

45 


CC 

cc 

CC 

CC 

CC 

CC 

CC 

CC 

CC 

CC 

CC 

CC 


47 

50 

51 

57 

61 

63 

69 

73 

79 

81 

85 

86 


44 89 

44 101 
44 103 


44 107 
44 110 
44 112 
44 118 



















ILLUSTRATIONS 


IX 


w The housemaid came with a broom-handle ” .... Page 119 

w Going u-up ? ”. “125 

Paul saw the long aisle, like a marble avenue. “ 1 33 

He did n’t look a bit happy. “ 143 

w Push him out of the nest ! ”. “149 

Down came Paul right into the apron. u 1 53 

He almost lost his balance to see around the corner . . . 1 57 














•JAM* 

THE LION-KILLER 















* 































JAN THE LION KILLER 



NCE upon a time there was 
r walking along the Kings high- 
f way a boy that had n’t had any 
i breakfast and did n’t know how 


he was going to get any dinner, but he was 
whistling merrily, “ For,” said he, “perhaps if 
I whistle loudly enough I shall forget how 
hungry I am.” 

“ What right have you to be whistling so 
gayly,” said a farmer whom he met, “ when 
I have lost two fat oxen, six good sheep, 
and a lamb ? ” 

Jan gave one long whistle and stopped. 
“My!” said he; “where did you lose 
them?” 

“ Do you not know,” said the farmer, 
“ that there is a great lion that comes down 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

every night from the mountain and carries 
off our flocks ? The King will give a large 
reward to any one who will kill the beast, 
but no one dares to try.” 

“ I will try,” said Jan. “ Take me to the 
King.” 

The farmer was so pleased that he ran 
shouting through the town, — “Here is a 
man to kill the lion! ” and all the men, 
women, and boys and girls, and dogs began 
to run along with Jan and the farmer, the 
dogs yelping and the people calling out, — 
“H ere comes the man who will kill the 
lion!” 

Now the King, when he heard all this 
din, looked out of the palace window and 
sent a servant to find out what the trouble 
was. 

They brought Jan to the King, and he 
said: 

“Your Majesty, I have started out in the 
[ 4 ] 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

world to seek my fortune, and I should like to 
kill the lion that is troubling your Majesty’s 
people.” 

“ But you are very young,” said the King, 
“ and have not even a sword.” 

“ Once, when I was tending my father’s 
sheep,” said Jan, “ there came a bear to de¬ 
stroy them, but I beat him with my great 
club and killed him.” 

“Very well then,” said the King; “if 
you kill the lion you shall be as my 
own son, and have half the kingdom 
when I die. Ask now whatever you 
need.” 

“Give me some dinner then,” said Jan; 
and as it was just the King’s dinner hour, 
they brought in his favorite dish, — four 
and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie, and 
all singing beautifully. Jan was so hungry 
that immediately he ate six of the black¬ 
birds, and then said: 

[ 5 ] 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

“ Now give me a sharp sword and a stout 
rope.” 

“ Certainly, and six brave men besides.” 

“No,” said Jan, “I will go alone,” for 
he had already discovered that the hardest 
battles in this world you generally have to 
fight out alone. 

So he went off up the steep mountain¬ 
side. A beautiful gray squirrel with a great 
bushy tail tried to make him stop and play 
hide-and-seek among the tall trees, and a 
saucy little rabbit scampered along the path 
just in front of him, saying: “Catch me, 
Jan, I’m so near, — just catch me.” But 
Jan knew that he must not spare the time, 
for it was almost the hour when the lion 
would come down; so he kept on climbing, 
all the time watching the ground very closely. 
Finally he came to a spring of cold water, 
and in the soft mud around it he saw a 
footprint where some animal had stepped. 

[ 6 ] 


JAN THE LION KILLER 



“Ah,”said 
Jan, “ this is 
where the lion 
gets a drink.” 

Then he 
climbed into 
tree that hung over 
spring and waited, 
was very still in the 
est; not a leaf moved 
the trees; at last 
was a low rumble. 

“ There is thu 
der,” said Jan. 

Soon he hear 
crackling of a deac 
twig, and there, -i 
right in the path, was a 
large lion. He put his 
nose down to the spring 
to drink, but, catching the scent of Jan, he 
[ 7 ] 


Then he climbed into a tree that 
hung over the spring 







JAN THE LION KILLER 

threw back his head, sniffed the air, and 
gave a terrible roar. Then Jan knew that 
this was the noise he had called “ thun¬ 
der.” He leaned out on the tree, threw 
the loop of the rope over the lion’s head, 
and pulled it tight, so that the roar grew 
fainter and fainter, and finally the lion 
closed his eyes and fell down almost choked 
to death. Jan leaped from the tree and with 
his sword cut off the lion’s great shaggy 
head. 

Now all the people were waiting at the 
foot of the mountain, and when they saw 
Jan with the lion’s head, they shouted and 
danced for joy, and carried it to the King, 
who came down the palace steps to meet 
Jan. He embraced him, and ordered the 
court tailor to make him a suit of clothes 
just like those of Prince Olaf, the King’s 
son, and that they should call him Prince 
Jan. When Jan was dressed in his royal 
[ 3 ] 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

suit, he looked as handsome 
as any Prince, and he and 
Prince Olaf played ping- 
pong together and grew 
very fond of each other. 

But the Queen, when 
she saw that the King 
loved Jan as much as his 
own son, was jealous, for 
she was a very narrow 
woman, and she did not 
know that when people 
are made right their hearts 
are broad enough to love 
several people, and there 
is room for them all, and 

she thought that because Whe n Jan was dressed in his 

the King loved Jan too, 
he did not love the Prince at all, and she 
began to be unkind to Jan and to say to 
the King: 



[ 9 I 








JAN THE LION KILLER 

“ Why do you make so 
much of this upstart Jan? 
We do not even know 
who his grandmother was. 
H e is a bold, pushing fel¬ 
low.” 

But the King had a mind 
of his own, and he only 
said: 

“Tush! Tush!” 

Prince Jan, however, saw 
that the Queen was wor¬ 
ried ; so he took all his fine 
clothes one day, and gave 
them back to the King, 



s* *“'»*•'* 


*? saying: 

“ I do not care for the 
rich clothes, nor to be called 

She was a very narrow -p, • t \ 

woman rnnce; 1 only just want 
to stay with you and the 
Prince, whom I love.” 

[ io ] 







JAN THE LION KILLER 

'‘Nonsense,” said the King; but Jan 
begged him, saying: 

“ Let me be clothed in plain dull clothes, 
and be called plain Jan again, but let me 
keep your love.” 

Then the Queen felt a little better, but 
still she fussed some because Jan stayed 
at the court. 

Now while the King and all the kingdom 
were prosperous and happy, — for there was 
now no lion to steal the flocks, — behold, 
one day a new lion rushed into the market¬ 
place and snatched a child from its mother 
and ran off with it, roaring: 

“ My brother took only your cattle when 
he was hungry, and you killed him. Now 
I will carry off your little boys and girls! ” 

Then all the city was in terror, and no 
merry little children ran in the streets, for 
their fathers kept them all at home for fear 
of the lion. But one day, when they were 
[ ii 1 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

out hunting, Jan 
heard the Prince 
cry out: “Oh, Jan, 
save me! ” and he 
saw the lion snatch 
the Prince from 
his horse’s back 
and disappear with 
him. 

The King and 
the Queen and all 
the people were in 
despair, and begged 
Jan to go out and 
kill this lion too. 
Then J an went out 
into the forest and 
sat down to think. 
H e was n’t afraid of 
the lion, but he had no idea which way to 
go to find him; and it is not easy to fight 
[ 12 ] 



The King and the Queen and all the 
people were in despair 







JAN THE LION KILLER 

things when nobody knows where they come 
from. 

Suddenly he heard a cry as of some an¬ 
imal in pain, and looking around, he saw 
a porcupine caught by one foot in a trap 
that the hunters had set for wolves. 

“ Don’t stick your sharp quills into me,” 
said Jan, “and I will set you free.” So 
he loosened the trap and out jumped the 
porcupine. 

“You are a kind fellow, Jan, and I will 
tell you what I know. The lion has not 
yet killed the Prince, but is keeping him to 
fatten until the month of Zebra, when he 
and his friends will feast on roast Prince, 
which is a great dainty for a lion. If ever 
you should need me, Jan, blow on this quill 
three times and I will come.” 

Then Jan went down to the beach to 
make ready his boat for a voyage, but not 
knowing just where to turn first, he sat look- 
[ i3 ] 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

ing out on the water, which was far, far out, 
for it was low tide. 

“ Why do you sit there so long doing 
nothing?” said a voice; and Jan saw a large 
crab coming sidewise towards him. 

'‘Why do you walk sidewise?” said Jan. 
The crab popped out her eyes. 

“ That is a personal question,” said she. 
“ I shall not answer it.” 

“ Neither shall I tell you why I am sitting 
here,” said J an; for he saw that she was a 
curious old busy-body, and very crabbed be¬ 
sides. As she scuttled off in great wrath 
some little boys came along, poking a snail 
shell, and singing: 

“ Snail, snail, come out of your hole, 

Or else I’ll beat you black as a coal.” 

They were just going to tear the poor snail 
out of her house and leave her to die on the 
sand when Jan swung his great sword over 
their heads, saying: 

[ ] 



Then Jan went down to the beach 





































JAN THE LION KILLER 

“ Give me the snail or I will cut off your 
ears and noses, and if you are ever cruel to 
anything again, the miller shall grind you 
as fine as meal.” 

The boys ran away terribly frightened, 
and the snail said: 

“ I am very slow, but I manage to see 
a good deal, and I have seen the lion. 
You must sail up Hope River, that empties 
into the sea here, but you ’ll have to sail 
with the tide, you know. It will come in 
with Time, and then you must be spry; 
Time and Tide wait for no man. Tide has 
to go up to the Head of Tide Water and 
from there get back where he started from 
in only six hours, so he can’t wait, you see.” 

Jan now saw that the water had really 
come much nearer and was trying to climb 
over a large rock just in front of him. A 
wave would get almost up to the top, and 
then slip — slip — back again. Then it 
[ 16 ] 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

would run way back so as to get a good 
start and come running up again with an¬ 
other great jump. Over and over the waves 
jumped up the side of that rock, and over 
and over they slid back again. 

“Oh, dear!” said Jan, “I should think 
the water would be so tired doing that.” 

J ust then, with a great rush, a wave poured 
over the top of the rock, and raced up to 
Jan’s very feet. 

“It is plain,” said Jan, “that the way to 
do a hard thing is to keep trying till you 
succeed.” 

Now that the Tide was in, Jan got into 
his boat and went up the great river. He 
did not meet a soul; there were only green 
woods and fields along the banks of the 
river, with here and there a few farmhouses, 
and the tall spire of the village church. At 
last appeared a dark object on the surface 
of the water, and as they came nearer, a 

2 [ i7 ] 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

long neck could be seen, with a head that 
grinned at Jan and said: 

“ I guess you can go on a bit farther, 
my man.” 

“ I intend to,” said Jan. “ Why not ? ” 

“ Because,” said the face, “ I am the Head 
of Tide Water, and it’s only small boats 
that can go by me. I turn all the rest 
back.” 

“I see,” said Jan, “sort of a river-police¬ 
man.” 

“No, a poYice-foioy” said the Head of 
Tide Water, and laughed very loud be¬ 
cause he had made a bad joke. He was 
so good-natured that Jan told him how 
much he wanted to find the lion’s den, and 
the Head said : 

“You had better land here and talk with 
my cousin, the land-policeman. He has been 
to college, and doubtless can tell you the 
latitude and longitude of the lion’s den.” 

[ 18 ] 








































JAN THE LION KILLER 

“ I don’t care anything about that,” said 
Jan; “I just want to know where it is.” 
But he scrambled up the 
bank, and soon found a 
man in a policemans 
uniform sitting very still 
on a very large beet. 

The policeman was 
asleep, but he yawned 
three times when Jan 
spoke to him, and said : 

“ Ah, yes ! the lion— 
let me see; I heard about 
him once.” 

After thinking a 
long time he told Jan 
where he would prob- 

In a policeman's uniform sitting . . . 
on a very large beet 

Jan started off rejoicing. 

Now when Jan first made up his mind 
to kill the lion, he had borrowed a football 

[ 19 ] 


ably find the beast, and 







JAN THE LION KILLER 

suit padded very thick, so that the claws and 
teeth of the lion could not penetrate it. 

Early in the morning he put on his coat 
of padding, and started up the mountain. 
Soon he came upon the lions track, and, 
following it closely, came to a cave in a 
rock. The lion was off on a foraging trip, 
but there was the Prince, alive and well. 
He and Jan embraced each other for joy, 
and Jan cut the ropes that bound the Prince 
to the cave, and off they started just as the 
lion came home bringing an ox that he had 
stolen. Jan took out the quill which the 
porcupine had given him, and hardly had 
he blown upon it three times when the por¬ 
cupine came limping up, for his foot still 
hurt him. The lion was just going to 
pounce upon Jan, when pop! out flew all 
the porcupine’s quills, some into his nose 
and some down his throat, and some even 
into his eyes, putting them out. Then the 
[ 20 ] 


JAN THE LION KILLER 

blind lion roared with pain and rage, and 
struck this way and that with his 
paws. He clawed a great 
piece out of the wad¬ 
ding of Jan’s armor, 
but J an clubbed him 
well, and slid the 
rope over his head 





Slid the rope over his head and led him off 

[ 21 ] 



JAN THE LION KILLER 

and led him off, hitting him with the club 
whenever he tried to escape. 

Now it chanced that there was a circus 
in town that day, and when the manager 
of the circus saw Jan leading this fine big 
lion through the streets, he said: 

“That is just what I want for my menagerie. 
Give me the lion and I will pay you six purple 
robes, six crowns of gold set with pearls, and 
three wheelbarrows of silver dollars.” 

Then the lion begged Jan to kill him. 
“ For,” said he, “ I would rather die than 
have to go in circus parades, and I, the King 
of the Forest, be jeered at by all the other 
animals and all the boys in the streets.” 

But Jan thought that would be an ex¬ 
cellent way to get rid of the lion, so he took 
the six purple robes, the six crowns of gold 
set with pearls, and the three wheelbarrows 
of silver dollars, and gave the rope to the 
circus manager to lead the lion away. 

[ 22 ] 



Then he and the Prince and the porcupine started for home 























JAN THE LION KILLER 

Then he and the Prince and the por¬ 
cupine started for home. The porcupine 
could not be persuaded to go into the castle, 
for he said that he had always lived in 
the woods and did n’t know how to behave 
in a King’s court. Oh, how surprised the 
people were to see Jan and the Prince, and 
how they hurrahed when they heard the fate 
of the lion, and even the Queen praised Jan, 
saying: 

“ Stay with us always, Jan, for now I 
see plainly that you do riot wish to take the 
place of the Prince, my son, or you would 
not have gone and recovered him at the 
risk of your life.” 

Then Jan delivered the six purple robes, 
and the six golden crowns, and the silver 
dollars, and the Queen gave him the six 
purple robes to keep, for she did not look 
well in purple, and they lived, and lived* 
and for all I know may be living yet. 

[ 2 4 ] 










A STORT FOR FRANCES 



|HE Man sat in his armchair 
trying to think where he could 
go for a vacation trip. He had 
been almost everywhere already, 
and besides, he was afraid that he would 
meet some children, and (only think of it!) 
this man did not like children ! 

“ I will take you to a country you have 
never seen,” said a voice close by his elbow, 
“ if you will promise not to keep me from 
doing my work there.” 

“ Certainly,” said the Man, and the fairy 
— for it was really a fairy that had come to 
him — reached up her hand and caught a 
soft white cloud from the sky and wrapped 
it around them both. In it they floated away 
through the sky, which was very blue that 



A STORY FOR FRANCES 


day, till they came to a great white marble 
gate. The fairy struck it three times with 
her wand and it flew wide open. 





The man sat in his armchair trying to think 


The Man heard a great rushing and pat¬ 
tering of feet, and saw a crowd of people 
running by. 


[ 28 ] 

























































A STORY FOR FRANCES 


“ Come on,” said a boy to the Man. 
“ Come and see them off.” 

“ See who off ? ” 

“Why, the Three Wise Men of Gotham. 
They’ve had their bowl mended, and now 
they are going off on another voyage.” 

So they all ran down to the beach, and 
there, to be sure, was a large bowl tossing 
around on the ocean, which was n’t of salt 
water at all, like that at Squirrel Island, 
but all of lemonade. 

“ All ashore going ashore! ” called out 
the wisest of the Wisemen, and pulled up 
the dictionary which they used as an anchor, 
and pushed the bowl off shore with a lerm 
onade ladle. All the little boys and girls 
screamed “ Good-bye ! Good-bye! ” and be¬ 
gan to play having a tea-party. 

The Man did not want to play this, and 
he wondered how the fairy could spare the 
time from her business; but she said, “I 
[ 29 ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 


think I will stay to the party,” and untying 
her bonnet-strings, sat down at the table. 
A little girl poured them some tea, at 



which the Man said rather crossly, “Why, 
there’s nothing in my cup but just common 
hot water.” 

“On the contrary,” said the fairy, “this 

[ 3o ] 








A STORY FOR FRANCES 


tea has a very fine flavor. The tea-leaves 
from which it is made grew on a bush in 
China, in the Emperor’s garden. It has 
golden stems and silver blossoms, and there 
is a gold fence around it, and six Chinamen 
guard it by day, and six Chinamen by night, 
so that nobody can pick a leaf except the 
Emperor’s little girl.” 

Then the Man who had spoken so badly 
about the tea felt very small, and indeed 
the fairy had tapped him with her wand so 
that he suddenly grew very tiny. She laid 
her wand, which was really a yardstick, 
against him and put her finger where his 
head came. 

“ Only six inches high ; you will have to 
grow a great deal here or your babies will 
not know you when you go home.” 

The Man was ashamed to be so much 
smaller than the smallest little girl at the 
party, and said: 

[ 3i ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 


“ Tell me how I can grow.” 

“ No,” said the fairy, “you must find out 
that for yourself, but don’t let the Great 
White Stork get you.” 

Then all the children began to play hide- 
and-seek, for now that the Three Wise Men 
of Gotham had gone, it was vacation and 
they did n’t have to know anything. 

“You’re It , you know,” said a boy, “for 
you came last.” 

“ Begin to count,” said the fairy to the Man, 
— “ten, ten, double ten, forty-five, fifteen.” 

“ Count a fiddlestick,” said the Man. 
“I’m not going to hunt up any children. 
There are too many around as it is.” 

“ Then good-bye,” said the fairy, and be¬ 
gan to fade away. 

“Stop! Wait!” said the Man; but she 
grew dimmer and dimmer, and at last van¬ 
ished altogether. 

Then the Man remembered that the fairy 
[ 32 ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 

had said: “ Don’t let the Great 
White Stork get you,” and he 
began to tremble with fear. 

“ Oh, what shall I do! What 
shall I do! ” he cried. 

“ Do ? ” said a boy, running past 

him, “ why, go to the trial, of course.” 

“ Who is going to be tried ? ” 

asked the Man; but the boy was 

already far ahead 
and did n’t hear. 

So the Man ran after 
him until he came to a 
brook. 

“ I have often jumped 
over a brook like that 
when I was a little boy,” 
he said to himself; so he 
gave a great jump, but 
alas! he had forgotten 
how small he was now, 

[ 33 ] 




3 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 


and he fell, — splash! right into the water. 
He tried to swim, but he sank deeper and 
deeper into the soft black mud of the brook. 
When he had sunk up to his shoulders so 
that only his head showed, he cried out: 

“ How I wish I were playing hide-and- 
seek with the children ! ” 

Immediately there was a loud whir-rr-rr 
— and a great white bird swooped down 
from the sky. He lifted the Man in his 
great strong bill and dropped him, all drip¬ 
ping with sticky black mud, on the bank. 

“ Now,” thought the Man, “ I shall surely 
be killed, for this is the Great White Stork.” 

He did not know that the things we are 
afraid of sometimes help us a great deal, and 
was surprised when the Stork said: 

“ So you wish after all to play with the 
children. You shall have one more chance; 
but if you miss it, I shall carry you off and 
punish you.” 

[ 34 ] 



He lifted the Alan in his great strong bill 



































A STORY FOR FRANCES 


With that he flapped his great wings seven 
times and vanished, saying: 

“ That is all. I — have — flapped.” 

“ How you frightened me!” said a voice. 
“ I thought you were after my hind legs.” 

Then the Man saw a large green frog 
sitting on a lily-pad. 

“No,” he said, “ I don’t want your hind 
legs. I only want to go to the trial. Do 
you know where it is ? ” 

“ No* I never go anywhere; I just stay 
right here and try to live so that the boys 
won’t get my hind legs for people to eat. 
They have caught all my family, and I, only 
I, am left. You’ll have to ask the cinna¬ 
mon bear. He lives over yonder. You will 
know him by the rose in his left ear. Here 
comes a boy ; I must dive.” 

The M an started off in the direction the 
frog had pointed out, and soon he noticed 
a fragrant, spicy smell in the air. 

f 36 ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 

“ Some one is baking a plum pudding,” he 
thought; but there was no sign of a house 
anywhere, and still as he went on the smell 



Out trotted a brown bear made all of shaggy sticks of cinnamon 


of cinnamon grew stronger and stronger. 
All at once he found himself opposite a 
dark cave. There were a great many rose¬ 
bushes before the cave, all covered with 
beautiful cinnamon roses, and as the Man 

[ 37 ] 








A STORY FOR FRANCES 


stood sniffing the fragrant odor, out trotted 
a brown bear made all of shaggy sticks of 
cinnamon, with a rose in his left ear. 

“ Ugh-ugh—Gr-rr-rr,” said he, which in 
the language of the bears means, “ What do 
you want ? ” 

“ I want to know the way to the trial.” 

“Well,” said the cinnamon bear, “you 
must walk along this road till you come to 
Robin Hood’s barn. You will have to 
go around that, for it’s right in the middle 
of the road. Then keep on till you come 
to the House that Jack Built, and a great 
garden that belongs to Mary, Mary, Quite 
Contrary. Then it’s only a little way to the 
trial if you go as the crow flies. If you will 
only remember to ask Mary, Mary, Quite 
Contrary, how her garden is getting on, the 
crow will come along and take you the rest 
of the way.” 

The Man went on, but only a short dis- 
[ 38 ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 

tance, when he met three little boys crying 
bitterly. Now the Man knew that the 
Great White Stork had given him one more 
chance, so he said : 



Met three little boys crying bitterly 


“ What is the matter, little boys ? ” 

“ Boo-hoo ! ” they sobbed, “ the Yekrut has 
carried off our best glass marbles.” 

The Man did not know that the Yekrut is 
the great-great-great-grandson of the eldest 
Harpy, and that he lives on things he 
snatches away from boys and girls; but he 
[ 39 ] 




A STORY FOR FRANCES 


was sorry for the boys and tried to think 
how he could help them. A bright idea 
came to him. He took out his diamond 
shirt-studs and cuff-buttons and pried out 
the diamonds with his penknife. 

“ N ow, boys, we will use these for marbles,” 
he said ; and they had a fine game, that re¬ 
minded the Man so much of when he was 
a little boy himself that he gave the dia¬ 
monds to the children to keep and went on 
his way, leaving the boys very happy. 

At last he heard a terrible noise, — the 
crowing of roosters, the quacking of ducks, 
the mooing of cows, the whinney of a horse, 
the barking of dogs, and the cackling of 
hens. He saw a great red roof, under 
which was a barn full of hay, and a cow- 
barn, a horse-barn, a carriage-house, a hen¬ 
house, a chicken-coop, a pig-pen, and a 
house for the servants to live in. 

“This, then, is Robin Hood’s barn. Robin 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 


must be a good farmer. It will be a long 
walk around it; ” but he trudged on and on 
till he saw a woman watering a garden. 

“This must be Mary, Mary,” he thought, 
“ for she looks as sour as if she drank noth¬ 
ing but vinegar; ” but he said very civilly: 

“ Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, 

How does your garden grow?” 

She answered : 

“ Silver bells and cock— ” 

“ Caw ! Caw ! ” said the crow, appearing 
at once. “ Get on my back and we will go 
to the trial as the crow flies.” 

Then they flew very fast over the tops 
of the trees till they saw a great castle, as 
large as the Cathedral in Hartford. 

“In that castle,” cawed the crow, “lives 
the Giant Time. If there is anything you 
want to know you had better ask him, for 
there are some things that Time alone can 
[ 4i ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 


tell. He is very old, older than the stars, 
and he never sleeps a wink night or day, and 
never stops going even when he is sick. 
Once this fall the Giant Thoughtlessness 
left his umbrella and rubbers on Time’s front 
steps, and when Time came out, running 
very fast,— for it was a delightful afternoon, 
— he tripped over the rubbers and broke his 
leg, so that he had to go on crutches; but 
he went on all the same, and never even 
looked around to see what he had stumbled 
over, for he never looks back. There was 
a lady here once that followed him ever so 
far, trying to make him look around, but he 
would n’t (and she was a pretty lady, too), 
so she used to sit under Time’s bay-window 
and sing to him, something like this: 

“ ‘ Backward, turn backward, 

O Time, in thy flight; 

Make me a child again 
Just for to-night/ 

[ 42 ] 



He tripped over the rubbers 








A STORY FOR FRANCES 


“The Giant Time said he couldn’t pos¬ 
sibly do it; but she kept singing it over 
and over, till finally Time said: 

“'If I will make you a little girl again, 
will you give me your fine house, your serv¬ 
ants, and your carriages ? ’ 

“'Yes,’ said the lady, 'you shall have 
them all.’ 

'"Will you give me your knowledge,— 
the French and geography, the books and 
the pictures you like so much ? ’ 

"' Yes,’ said the lady, ' every one.’ 

" ‘ Will you give me your husband ? ’ 

" ‘ No,’ said the lady, ' I will not give you 
my husband/ 

'"Then I can’t make you a little girl 
again,’ said Time; ‘but I will speak to the 
Great White Stork, and he will give you a 
little girl of your own. That will not be 
quite the same as being one yourself, but you 
will like it better, so do not cry any more.’ ” 

[ 44 ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 


“That is an interesting story/ said the 
Man, “but I am afraid we shall be late 
to the trial/’ 


“ Perhaps not,” said 
the crow, “for the 
court-house where the 
trial is held is just 
back of Time’s castle, 
so they are always be¬ 
hind Time, you see, 
and very likely they 
haven’t begun yet.” 

Then the crow 
lighted on the roof of 
the court-house, and 
the man slid off his 
back and down the 
chimney into the open 
fireplace of a great 
throne-room all carpete 
The Chief Justice < 


( 




He will give you a little girl of 
your own 


with crimson velvet, 
t on the throne, and 





A STORY FOR FRANCES 


on each side of him were growing six crim¬ 
son and gold tulips with their blossoms 
tightly closed. 

“ Let the prisoner be brought in,” said the 
Chief Justice; and as he spoke the twelve 
tulips slowly opened and in each sat a little 
man. These were the twelve jury-men, who 
had never seen the light of day until the 
tulips opened, so they made excellent jury¬ 
men, as they knew absolutely nothing. 

Then there was a great whirr-rr-rr — 
and the Great White Stork flew in, carry¬ 
ing in his bill a little girl who looked very 
scared. 

“ What has this child done ? ” asked the 
Chief Justice. 

“ She was playing hide-and-seek, and she 
peeked,” said the Stork. 

“ That is a dreadful thing. Can you 
bring any witnesses that saw her peek ? ” 
said the Chief Justice. 

[ 46 ] 


ecjm 



On each side of him were growing six crimson and gold tulips 
























































































































































A STORY FOR FRANCES 

Then the Stork called in the Electric 
Light Pole, who said: 

“ This little girl was leaning against me 
and making believe blind her eyes, but I 
saw her peek and watch where the other 
children hid.” 

Then the Stork called in an automobile, 
which said: 

“ I was standing in the road, waiting 
for my master, and I saw this little girl 
peek.” 

“ She is guilty,” cried out all the twelve 
tulips, and the Chief Justice said: 

“ Let the Darning-Needle sew up her eyes 
so that she cannot tell light from darkness 
for a week and a day.” 

While the Darning-Needle was sewing 
up her eyes, the Court Poet recited some of 
his newest verses: 

“ There was an old ape in Peru 
Who painted his children all blue. 

[ 48 ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 


When his wife said, ‘ My dear, 

Don’t you think they look queer ? * 

He said, ‘ Well, I don’t know 
But what they do.’ ” 

“ A sore-hipped hippopotamus, 

Quite flustered, 

Objected to a poultice 
Made of custard. 

Can’t you put on my hip 
Something else than this flip ? 

So they put on his hip a pot 
O’ mustard.” 

“Why, how you have grown! You are 
fine and tall,” the Man heard some one say, 
and behold ! there was the fairy. The Man 
was delighted to see her again, and went 
with her gladly while she unlocked a door 
with a big iron key and entered a room 
filled with tables. There were pretty little 
round tables, plain tables, and carved tables, 
big square wooden tables, and marble tables. 

“ This is the arithmetic room, and these 
4 [ 49 ] 


A STORY FOR FRANCES 


are the multiplication tables,” said the fairy. 
“ I come in and brush the dust off now and 



then to please the Three Wise Men of 
Gotham. This one,” said she, laying her 
wand on a very long homely table, “ is the 






A STORY FOR FRANCES 


table of twelves. It is all of solid 
adamant and very hard. J ust 
knock on it and see how hard 
it is.” 

The Man knocked on the 
table, and at once the fairy and 
all the tables disappeared, and 
the Man found himself in his own 
armchair, rapping with his hand 
on his own table beside him. 



Having a tea-party 

[ 5i ] 






















A STORY FOR FRANCES 


“ Why, how still it is! I wonder where 
the children have all gone,” said he. Then 
he went upstairs and found his own little 
girl having a tea-party with her schoolmates 
and their dolls. 

“ I think I will stay to the party,” he said, 
“and to-morrow I will give you a big new 
tea-set of white china with pink roses on it.” 

Then all the little girls clapped their 
hands and drank a great many cups of tea, 
and said it was the nicest tea-party they had 
ever had. 


[ 52 ] 

















THE 

ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


T was dark in the library. Only 
the light of the hearth-fire flick¬ 
ered uncertainly over the orna¬ 
ments on the mantel. It shone 
on Bimbo’s metal sides and sent 
a wicked gleam into his little red eyes. 
Now Bimbo was a silver elephant about 
eight inches high, studded here and there 
with dull red and blue glass pieces about 
as big as a ten-cent piece. He had come 
from Grieve, Chump and Woe’s antique 
silver department, and before that he had 
lived — but we shall hear of that by and by. 

Paul stood watching him, his hands be¬ 
hind his back. 



[ 55 ] 



THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


“ Do you know, Paul,” he said, “this is a 
very uncivil country. I have lived here two 
years and not a soul has bowed to me.” 

“ But why should anybody bow to you ? ” 
said Paul in surprise. 

“ Why, indeed! Did I not live in the 
Temple of Mahaveranja hundreds of years ? 
Ah, those were happy days, when the priests 
all in white robes, with great white turbans on 
their heads, would come into the temple and 
bow way down till their foreheads touched 
the ground in front of the altar. Then they 
would burn some fine red powder in a silver 
dish and I would breathe in the delicious 
sweet smell of the smoke. 

“It’s lonely here, too,— no one worth 
talking to except this fellow here; ” and he 
motioned backwards over his shoulder with 
his trunk towards the image of a Pueblo 
Rain-God, that sat up very straight, with its 
legs pointing straight ahead, and its arms 
[ 56 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


folded tight, and 
looked neither to the AA-4K 

right nor to the left. .. 

“ H e came from a 
temple in Mexico, you see, and 
he knows what it is to be bowed 
to. Still, the bowing and the 
loneliness, — that is not the 
worst, — but Shazeerah ! ” 

“ What was that ? ” said Paul. 

“It wasn’t a that; it was a 
she” said Bimbo, “and she had 
the most beautiful eyes in the 
world.’’ 

“ Brown ? ” asked Paul. 

“No, blue and green and bronze and 
purple, and such a lot of them! ” 

“ Why,” said Paul, “ most persons have 
only two.” 

“ Person ! ” said the elephant. “ Who said 
anything about a person ? Shazeerah was 
[ 57 ] 



Paul stood watch¬ 
ing him 





THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


a peacock. She belonged to the high-priest, 
and used to walk in the temple yard. The 
wind would blow sweet flower perfumes 
through the temple windows, and Shazeerah 
would flash all her eyes in the sun, and then 
she would come under the window and we 
would talk.” 

“ Why did you come away ? ” asked Paul. 

“ Because,” said Bimbo, “ one night when 
it was the high-priests turn to burn incense 
before the altar, he lifted me through the 
temple window and a man outside reached 
up and took me. He gave the priest some 
shining gold-pieces, and then he wrapped 
me up in a soft thick cloth, and I saw no 
more till I was opened in the big store 
where your father bought me. Say, Paul, 
suppose we take a run over there. I feel 
as if I must see the temple again.” 

“ But it is so far, you will be weary.” 

“ Oh, no, for I am going towards what I 
[ 58 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


love. Just lift me down to the floor. Now 
press the blue stud on my left shoulder/’ 

Paul did so, and at once Bimbo grew and 
grew, till he filled the large room, a full- 
grown elephant. He picked Paul up on 
his tusks and started, but when he tried 
to go through the door his great sides stuck 
fast, and squeeze as hard as he could he 
couldn’t move one way or the other. 

“ Dear, dear,” he said, “ how stupid of 
me! I ought to have got out of the house 
first. Climb up over my head and press 
the red stud on my right hip.” 

So Paul scrambled over the great fore¬ 
head of the elephant and pressed the but¬ 
ton. Down shrank Bimbo till he was only 
a little silver image again. Then he easily 
slipped out into the yard, where Paul once 
more pressed the blue button on his shoul¬ 
der, and Bimbo grew large and strong again. 
Taking Paul on his tusks, he started off at 
[ 59 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


a rapid trot, when suddenly there was a 
great yelping, and a silky little black poodle- 
dog came frisking around them. “ Go back, 
Totzo, go back,” said Paul; but Totzo 
wanted to go too, and refused to go back. 
He ran and jumped till he was quite out 
of breath and his little pink tongue hung 
out of his mouth. 

As they passed out of the gate, the Snow¬ 
man that Paul had made that day called out, 
“ What! little boy, are you going to leave 
me ? ” and he too ran along beside Bimbo. 

On they went, Paul and Bimbo and 
Totzo and the Snow-man, till soon they had 
left winter behind them and the leaves were 
thick on the trees and the fields were full 
of blossoming flowers. 

“Is it not beautiful ? ” said Paul. 

“ I suppose so,” said the Snow-man, “ but 
some way the climate does n’t seem to agree 
with me. I feel quite ill and weak.” 

[ 60 ] 





On they went , Paul and Bimbo and Totzo and the Sno7V-man 
































































THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 

Then Paul noticed that the Snow-man 
had really grown very thin, and he per¬ 
suaded Bimbo to rest on the edge of a great 
forest till morning. 

Paul took Totzo in his arms and went to 
sleep with the Snow-man beside him, while 
Bimbo talked over old times with a white 
cockatoo that perched in the tree above. 

Soon Paul heard Bimbo saying: 

“ Come, see those streaks of light in the 
sky. That is the Dawn, and we are going 
to meet it.” 

Paul jumped up, Totzo frisked around, 
but where, oh, where, was the Snow-man ? 
H e was nowhere to be seen. The White 
Cockatoo said that he had gone into a de¬ 
cline, but Bimbo would not wait for Paul 
to find out where that was, so he never knew 
just what became of the Snow-man. 

By and by they came to some water. 
“ Press the blue stud in my forehead,” said 
[ 62 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


Bimbo; and out shot 
great wings from his 
sides. He flapped c 
them hard, and over 
the waves they 
flew. 

“ What 
makes the 
water look 
all brown 
and muddy 
over there ? ” 
asked Paul. 

‘‘Oh,” said 
Bimbo, “that 
is where it 
rolls around 
theChocolate 
Reefs. Say, 

Paul, don’t you 
love chocolate ? ” 



He dipped up several cups of hot chocolate 

[ 6 3 ] 








THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


“No,” said Paul; “ my mother says you 
must n’t love anything that has n’t a face, 
but I enjoy eating it very much.” 

“ Then we’ll stop at the Chocolate Isles;” 
and Bimbo flew up to the reefs, which were all 
of sweet chocolate, beautifully cut and carved 
like coral. Paul broke off great pieces and 
nibbled them as they flew towards the shore 
of the Chocolate Isles, where the ocean of 
hot chocolate was crashing in great foamy 
breakers of whipped cream. 

“ Oh, dear,” said Paul, “ I can’t reach any 
without getting all wet with spray.” 

“ Wait a second,” said Bimbo, and, light¬ 
ing on the shore, he reached out with his 
trunk and dipped up several cups of hot 
chocolate for Paul. Then they walked up 
Baker Street to Lowney Square. Here 
there was a great fountain playing constantly, 
and spurting great jets of chocolate soda- 
water into the air. The basin around the 
[ 64 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


fountain was full of chocolate soda-water 
also, that had dripped out of the open jaws 
of four great chocolate lions that made the 
fountain. Now you would suppose that all 
the boys and girls in the city would be 
crowding around the fountain, but you see 
soda-water was so common in the Chocolate 
Isles that nobody thought anything of it, and 
there was n’t a soul at the fountain except one 
old man, almost blind, leaning on a chocolate 
cane and holding a big basket of bread-and- 
butter which he was selling at a penny a slice. 
A little boy came up to buy a slice. 

“ Why,” said Paul, “ do you really spend 
your pennies for bread-and-butter ? ” 

“ Oh, yes,” said the child; “ it’s a great 
treat here.” 

“ Well, well,” said Paul, “ I Ve often 
heard my mother say, ‘If you’re hungry, 
you can eat bread-and-butter,’ but I always 
thought she was mistaken.” 

5 [ 6 5 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


Now the sun was getting very hot, and 
Paul was delighted, when they came to the 
soldiers monument, to see that it was all 
made of chocolate ice-cream. 

“You can eat all you like,” said Bimbo, 
“ for the cream would melt anyway, and 
they have to have a new monument every 
day.” 

This day it happened to be in the shape 
of three women,— Faith, Hope, and Char¬ 
ity. Paul ate several spoonfuls out of 
Charity and found it delicious and cool, 
just as cold as it is anywhere else. 

“ Now,” said Bimbo, “we will go and see 
the man that makes the monuments.” Then 
they went into a great cool room where a 
lot of little boys were turning ice-cream 
freezers and a man was drawing pictures 
of monuments. 

“ This one,” he explained to Paul, “ is 
for to-morrow.” 

[ 66 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


Paul saw that it was just a very tall, nar¬ 
row, chimney-like thing sticking into the air. 

“ That is not very pretty,” he said. 

“ No,” said the man, “that isn’t necessary. 
It only has to be tall enough and the people 
will like it very much. Now this one,” went 
on the man — but suddenly Totzo gave a 
spring; there was a great spitting and meow¬ 
ing, and they saw a chocolate cat rushing 
off chased by Totzo. She dashed up into 
a tree, and Totzo came whining back to 
his master with a scratch on his nose; for 
although she was a very sweet thing, the 
chocolate cat did not like dogs. 

“ Why,” said Bimbo, “ I am afraid it is 
going to storm, the sky seems very dark; ” 
and just then the great drops began to 
patter down. 

“ Oh,” cried Paul, “ it is raining chocolate 
creams; ” and he stretched out his cap to 
catch the drops, till soon he had more than 
[ 67 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


he could eat. But it was only a shower, and 
as the sun came out very soon Bimbo said: 
“ I think we must be going on our way. 
Isn’t there something you would like to 
take home with you ? ” 

“Yes,” said Paul, “I do want a kitty so 
much. Please may I have the chocolate cat ?” 

“If you can catch her,” said Bimbo; but 
the chocolate cat only climbed higher into 
the tree. 

“What! ” said she, “live in the house with 
that horrid little dog?—I guess not;” and 
she leaped from branch to branch so fast 
that Paul only once managed to seize the 
end of her tail, and she snapped that off 
short, leaving a piece of the chocolate tail 
in his hand rather than be caught and go 
home with Totzo. 

So they flew away again till domes and 
spires began to twinkle in the sun, and soon 
they alighted in a big city. 

[ 68 ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


“ Why, what s the matter ? ” 
said Bimbo. “There's the tem¬ 
ple, but see what is on top of 
it! ” and sure enough, there was a 
sparkling gilded cross. They looked 
in at the door. A man in a black 
and white robe was talking to a lot 
of people sitting in 
pews facing him. 

“ This is all very 
strange,” said Bimbo. 

“Where are the priests 
and the incense ? ” 

Then he rushed 
into the dooryard of 
the high-priest’s 
house, but instead 
of Shazeerah, out 
rushed a big dog < 
with a loud bow¬ 


wow-wow. 



“ Oh, that proud thing! 


[ 6 9 ] 




THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 

“ Don’t make so much noise. We are 
no tramps, but tell us what all this means,” 
said Bimbo. 

“ Why,” answered the dog, growing more 
friendly ; “ there was a big fuss here. The 
high-priest sold the temple-elephant to a 
foreign man and the people cut off the high- 
priest’s head for it. Then a lot of foreign 
men came, and soldiers, while the priests 
were quarrelling over who should be the next 
high-priest, and they drove off all the priests, 
and nailed that cross onto the temple, and 
now the new minister lives here and I’m 
his dog.” 

“ And what became of Shazeerah ? ” asked 
Bimbo. 

“ Oh, that proud thing! she used to strut 
and strut and never would give me a look 
or a word, till I got so angry that one day 
I pounced on her and shook her till her fine 
feathers were all rumpled up, and she died. 

[ 7o ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


It was no loss. She never cared for any 
one but just her own self.” 

Now Bimbo had been living in America, 
so at such shocking news he just sat back 
on his haunches and said : 

“ Is— that — so !” 

“ Yes,” said the dog, “ it is.” 

“ I want to know ! ” said Bimbo. 

“ Well, you do, don’t you ? ” said the dog. 

“Well, well, well,” said Bimbo, “Shazee- 
rah is dead, and they don’t use elephants 
in the temple. Dear, dear! I guess we’d 
better go home, Paul. They appreciate us 
there more than they do here. Press the 
stud on my forehead.” 

Out shot the wings again; off they flew, 
till an island with waving palm-trees came 
in view. Bimbo lighted to rest a minute. 

“ Run and stretch your legs a bit,” he said 
to Paul, “but don’t get far away, for these 
are the Cannibal Islands, and if Koma Ling 
[ 7i ] 


THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


King, the King of the Cannibal Islands, 
should get you, you would never see your 
mother again.” 

So Paul ran about chasing a butterfly, 
when all at once there was a yell, and a 
fierce man almost like a wild beast rushed 
out from a thicket and caught Paul. 

“Ha!” he roared; “a tender, juicy little boy! 
Next to stewed Missionaries there’s nothing 
I like so well as little boys’ fried ribs.” 

He was pinching Paul’s ribs to see how 
fat they were, when Totzo rushed up behind 
and bit the heels of Koma Ling King till 
they bled, which so surprised the King of 
the Cannibal Islands that he dropped Paul, 
and before he could catch him again, Paul 
and Bimbo and Totzo had taken flight and 
were far away over the water; but for a long 
time they could hear the yells of the disap¬ 
pointed King of the Cannibal Islands fol¬ 
lowing them. 

[ 72 ] 
























































































THE ENCHANTED ELEPHANT 


“You are nearer home than 

you think,” said Bimbo, and 

almost at .... that moment Paul 

felt himself slide off Bimbo s 

tusks to the library 

“Well, Paul,” his 
was saying, “we heard 
a little thud, and here 
we found you fallen 
out of the armchair 
to the floor. Come to bed now, 
and finish your nap there.” 

Paul took his mother’s hand 
and went, but as he turned 
away he looked at Bimbo ; and He made a low bow 
the elephant’s little red eyes 
twinkled very fast in the firelight, as if he 
were thinking, “We know something, don’t 
we, Paul?” 

“Wait a minute,” said Paul; and he made 
a low bow to Bimbo, and then left the room. 

[ 73 ] 































mm 


, . _ - _ 




i 

~ < 







































































































THE OLD LEAF 



HBLLL the world was full of drift¬ 


ing leaves, — red, and yellow, 
and brown. A big yellow 
one flattened itself against the 
window-pane where Paul and 


Elsie and Ted were looking out upon a very 
rainy day. The leaf stuck. Paul looked at 
its delicate veins and fibres and then he began 
to talk to the leaf. 

“Wouldn’t you like to stay green and 
fresh on the tree?” he said. 

“It is time for us to fall,” said the leaf. 

“ But are n’t you sorry to fall off and have 
the wind blow you nobody knows where? ” 

“Oh, no,” said the leaf; “we have work 
to do still. The rain will rain on us, and 


[ 77 ] 



THE OLD LEAF 


the snow will cover us, and we shall crumble 
up into rich soft leaf-mould and make food 
for the flowers of next year to live on. 
Watch in the spring and see how the roots 
of the plants have drawn us up into beauti¬ 
ful flowers.” 

Then the leaf let go its hold on the win¬ 
dow and whisked off; and one gust after an¬ 
other carried off more and more leaves, till, by 
and by, there was only one left on the tree. 

Then there came some warm, sunny days; 
it seemed almost as if summer had decided 
to come back. The old leaf was dry and 
brown now, but day after day it clung there. 
When bedtime came the children would say 
good-night to it, and every morning they ran 
to the window to see if it were still there. 

“ Don’t you want to be like the rest and 
make leaf-mould ? ” said Paul one day; but 
the old leaf shook its head gently, and said: 

“ When the fulness of the time is come.” 

[ 78 ] 


THE OLD LEAF 


Now Jack-Frost began to paint pictures 
on the window-panes, — ferns and flowers 
and trees, mountains and hills and waterfalls. 
One day there was 
a camel, and an¬ 
other day a whale 
spouting a stream 
of foamy water into 
the air. Then Paul 
would breathe on the 
window and rub a little space 
clear so that he could see his old 
friend, the old leaf. It looked very 
faded and cracked, 
to its twig, and the 
“ What a tough ; 

But Paul thought of what the old leaf had 
said: “In the fulness of the time/’ and was 
not quite sure what it meant. 

Then almost before you would believe it, 
— it was the night before Christmas — Paul 
[ 79 ] 



















THE OLD LEAF 


and Elsie and Ted lay in bed, hearing in 
their dreams the patter of reindeers’ hoofs on 
the roof, and Santa Claus shouting: “ Now, 
Dancer, now, Prancer, — on, Cupid and 
Vixen! ” 

There hung the stockings under the mantel¬ 
piece, all knobby and wobbly, with a candy- 
cane sticking out of the top of every one, and 
a pile of presents on the floor underneath. 
Papa and Mamma had hardly gone to sleep 
when Paul and Elsie and Ted were up to 
look in their stockings, and oh, how long 
they looked, and how the wrapping-papers 
and twine piled up! 

Now there are twenty-four hours in Christ¬ 
mas Day, like any other day, but they are 
short ones; and almost in a twinkling it was 
time for the turkey, and in another twinkling 
it was dark, and then came the tree. How 
perfectly splendid it was! Paul and Elsie 
and Ted just stared with wonder and delight 
[ 80 ] 



All the children . . . joined hands and danced around it 























THE OLD LEAF 


at the blazing candles, the strings of pop¬ 
corn, and the shining gold star on top. All 
the children and uncles and aunts joined 
hands and danced around it, and sang: 

“There’s a wonderful tree, 

A wonderful tree, 

The happy children rejoice to see, 
Spreading its branches 
Far and near; 

It comes from the forest 
To blossom here. 

And this wonderful tree, 

With its branches wide 
Is always, is always blooming 
At Christmas-tide.” 

There was a gorgeous red sled on it for 
Paul, and so many other presents that, when 
at last they went to bed, even Paul fell asleep 
before he was fairly undressed. 

By and by he woke up. It was mid¬ 
night, and the house was very still. He 
heard the wind go whistling around the 
[ 82 ] 


THE OLD LEAF 

corner of the house, and suddenly he re¬ 
membered that he had gone to bed without 
saying good-night to the old leaf; and he 
felt very much ashamed to think that the 
new toys and the tree had made him forget 
his old friend. It was the first time he had 
missed, and the more he tried to go to sleep, 
the more he kept wondering what the old 
leaf had thought when no little boy came to 
look at it at bedtime. Paul was beginning to 
find out how dreadful it is to lie awake when 
everybody else is asleep, and think of some¬ 
thing that you might have done in the day¬ 
time to make some one happy, — and did n’t 
do. All of a sudden the thought came: 
“What if the leaf should be gone in the 
morning, and he should never see it again ? ” 
Then Paul could stand it no longer. He 
slipped out of bed and tip-toed along the 
big empty hall. It seemed so dark and 
dismal; but he fastened his eyes on the crack 
[ 83 ] 


THE OLD LEAF 


of light that shone in at the window way at 
the other end, and kept on. He drew the 
curtain and looked out into the sky all 
sprinkled with cold white stars, and there, 
fluttering in the moonlight, was the old leaf. 

“ Oh,” said Paul, “ I am so glad ; I was 
afraid you might be gone. Good-night, dear 
leaf;” and just then off dropped the old 
leaf and fluttered straight towards Paul. It 
struck the window with a sharp tap. “ Good¬ 
bye, Paul. Go to sleep now,” it said, and 
then it sailed off. 

“ Good-bye, good-bye,” he called, and 
watched it patter over the white fields of 
snow far out of sight. Then Paul crept 
back to bed again, and when it came morn¬ 
ing the other children cried out, “ Oh, look! 
the old leaf is gone! ” but Paul said nothing. 
He knew all about it. 

“ Oh, there’s a snowflake,” cried Elsie. 

“Where?” said Paul; “I don’t see any.” 


THE OLD LEAF 

“Yes, there’s one, or is it a piece of 
paper? No, it’s a snowflake, and there’s 
another,” and there really were little white 
specks now and then 
in the air. Pretty soon 
a lot of them began to 
dart by the window, 
and dodge into cor¬ 
ners and cracks. Fas¬ 
ter and faster they 
chased each other, till 
the air was full of 
dancing white flakes. 

They buried the 
fences, and dressed 
up the posts with 
white hoods, and bent 
the branches of the trees and bushes way 
down with the weight of snow trimming. 
Paul sat in the house and wished he had 
something to do; his mamma told him ever 
[ 85 ] 



Paul worked very hard 






THE OLD LEAF 

so many things to do, but he did n’t like any 
of those. Finally he arranged Pussy and 
her four kittens on the table and sat down 
to draw their pic¬ 
tures. They looked 
as pretty as could be. 

Paul worked very 
hard. The kittens 
would get up and run 
off every little while, 
but at last, with a 
great deal of patting 
and coaxing, Paul 
made them stay long 
enough for him to 
draw the picture. 
Then he took it to 
mamma to look at. What she saw was this. 

The snowflakes kept whisking down all 
that day and night, and then in the morning 
how the world glittered in the sun! There 

l 86 ] 



What she saw was this 















THE OLD LEAF 


was a great snow mountain right in front of 
the door, and Paul rushed out in his new 
sweater to make a path. He tossed the 
snow right and left, and papa helped some, 
so that there was soon a fine path to the 
gate. 

But frost and cold cannot last forever, 
and before long there was left only a mere 
dirty fringe of snow under the fences here 
and there. Then, — oh, then, Paul went 
into the woods, way out into the hill-country, 
to make — what do you suppose ? Real 
maple sugar! Now, the sap-camp was a 
rough little shanty; the walls were black and 
smoky, and there were only hard benches to 
rest on instead of rocking-chairs, but Paul 
thought it was the joiliest place in the world. 
The woods were full of the calls of birds that 
had decided to go to housekeeping at once. 
Bluejays screamed at him from pine trees; 
crows cawed to each other to come and see 
[ 87 ] 


THE OLD LEAF 


the little boy that had come with the men 
this year; little brown hares scampered about, 
and every little while Paul would catch the 
twinkle of sharp eyes behind a fallen log. 
Once there was a whisk of a red tail, and 
Mr. Fox scurried by, and one morning a 
deer, — a real deer, with branching horns and 
soft velvety eyes, came right into the clearing. 
Paul would have fed it, but away it bounded 
again into the woods. 

In the morning the men drove spikes into 
the fine old maple trees, and hung the sap- 
buckets there. Then they waited while the 
warm spring sun sent the sap trickling through 
the trees, and it drip, drip, dripped, till the 
buckets were full. 

Then the boiling over great fires, till the 
bubbling mass of syrup was just right, and 
the men poured it off to cool into maple 
sugar, like the cakes that any little boy or 
girl has seen piled up in the grocery stores. 

[ 88 ] 


THE OLD LEAF 





There was a whisk of a red tail\ and Mr. Fox scurried by 

And now that the “ sugarin' off ” was done, 
Paul came home, the stickiest, sugariest, hap¬ 
piest boy in the world. 

Robin Redbreast kept sending out good 

[ 89 ] 










THE OLD LEAF 


clear bugle notes of warning that spring was 
on the way, but it came too slowly for Paul, 
and so he went out to meet the spring; for 
he had learned what a great many older people 
don’t know, that you can oftentimes get rid 
of winter if you are only willing to go out 
and look for spring. As he looked sharply 
this way and that, there in a tangle of glossy 
bronze leaves were the most beautiful pink 
and white flowers! 

“Oh,” said Paul, and he knelt right down 
and buried his face in their sweet blossoms, 
“ Oh, where did you come from ?” 

Then a blossom whispered in his ear, “ I 
am the old leaf.” Then Paul remembered 
how the leaf that stuck to the window-pane 
had said that they were going to make leaf- 
mould, and for Paul to watch for them in 
the spring, and as he picked the beautiful 
arbutus, he was no longer sorry that the old 
leaf had had to fall from the tree. 

[ 90 ] 


THE OLD LEAF 

When Paul got home he went upstairs and 
looked out of the window again at the tree. 
It stood in a soft pink haze of swelling buds, 
and there on the topmost twig where the old 
leaf had clung, a delicate pale-green, crinkly- 
leaf had unfurled. 


[ 9 1 ] 




THE 




^!K©WASJTI<£ 

• EXPEDHTI@M- 


•SOILS* TO-DAY- 
•AfPLY-OT-THE-ARK- 

















THE 

ARKONAUriC EXPEDITION 



HERE was a clattering sound 
in the nursery, and a hurried 
patter, patter, patter, as if a 
great many feet were running 
to a fire, and then a voice said: 


“ Whoa ! back! sh—!” 

Paul opened the door and saw a strange 
sight. Ted’s Noah’s Ark was standing in 
the centre of the room, and all the animals 
were trotting about as they pleased. Noah 
and his wife and his sons and their wives 
were running distractedly around, looking 
very much worried, and there was a general 
air of confusion. A cream-colored rabbit 
with pink eyes and unusually long ears sat 
[ 95 1 








ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


up on his haunches nibbling a piece of 
toasted bread which it held in one paw, while 
with the other it wiped away the tears that 
trickled down its face. 

“ What is the matter ? ” asked Paul. The 
cream-colored rabbit only shook its head and 
waved a paw as if to fan Paul away. 

“What is the matter? Do tell me,” said 
Paul again. But the rabbit shook his head 
again, and put one paw behind his ear as if 
to hear better. 

“He must be deaf,” thought Paul. “What 
— is — the — matter?” he shouted again. 

“Don’t talk to that fellow,” said Shem; 
“he can’t understand you. He’s Welsh.” 

“ But I want to find out how it is that 
after Ted and I put you into the ark and 
shut the door, you are all running around the 
room; and what is Ham looking for under 
the sofa ? ” 

“ Why, you see,” said Shem, “ Japheth is 
[ 96 ] 




























































































































































































































































































































































ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


lost. He hasn’t been home since morning, 
and we can’t imagine what has become of 
him. I must go to hunting again.” 

“Don’t stand there talking! if you can’t 
help, get out of the way,” cried Ham’s wife, 
dashing by Paul. 

The Welsh Rabbit took another bite of 
toasted bread and sobbed aloud, while all 
the family of Noah began to scurry about 
anew, except Mrs. Shem, who stood stiff and 
motionless without stirring a muscle. 

“ She does n’t know what it’s all about,” 
explained Noah; “she hasn’t any head, 
you see, and so we can’t make her under¬ 
stand.” 

Then Paul remembered that one day Mrs. 
Shem had rolled under the rocker of his 
chair, and he had snapped her head off; so 
there stood the poor lady unable to take part 
in the hunt. Every one else was busy. Even 
the Zebra, who had lost a leg, hopped around 
7 [ 97 ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


on three legs as best he could, but no Japheth 
was to be found. 

“ Why don’t you advertise ? ” suggested 
Paul; “that’s what my father did when Totzo 
was lost, and a man brought him back.” 

“ H ow do you advertise ? ” asked N oah. 

“ I think you put a sign in the window,” 
said Paul. “ I have seen them in people’s 
houses, and I ’ll make you one if you want 
me to.” 

“Well, do, then,” said Mrs. Noah; and 
Paul printed some letters on a piece of white 
paper and pinned it up on the ark. 

“ That is very plain,” said Shem. 

LOST, STRAYED, OR STOLEN, 

A WOODEN JAPHETH. 

Inquire within. 

“ But supposing any one should come in 
to inquire where he is, we don’t know where 
he is ourselves,” said Ham. 

[ 93 ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


“I know it,” said Paul, “but it always says 
Inquire within on the cards in the windows. 
Now let us put on our thinking-caps and 
think what to do next.” 

So Mrs. Noah went into the ark and 
brought out the thinking-caps, which they 
all pulled down over their eyes, and then 
they thought and thought and thought. 

Finally Shem said, “Let us go and ask 
the big furnace in the cellar. He was al¬ 
ways a warm friend of ours, and perhaps he 
will help us.” 

“Wait a minute,” said Paul. “ My mother 
says, ‘ Second thoughts are best.’ Let us 
put on the thinking-caps once more, and see 
what we should do on second thought.” 

So they all clapped on the caps again, and 
pretty soon Paul said : 

“ The house-maid was sweeping here this 
morning, and perhaps Japheth got into the 
dust-pan; go and look in the ash-barrel.” 

[ 99 I 


L.ofC. 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


“ Why, of course, of course, the ash-barrel,” 
they shouted, and clattered away to the cellar 
stairs, all but Shem’s wife, who still kept her 
stand in front of the ark, and appeared not 
to have noticed their departure. But when 
they looked down into the cellar it was so 
dark that Noah could n’t see the back of his 
own neck, and he called a halt. 

“We shall have to go back after the ark- 
light,” he said. 

So back they marched to the ark, and Ham 
and Shem together carried the ark-light, 
which made it perfectly easy for them to see 
everything in the cellar. They began to 
empty the things out of the ash-barrel, when 
they heard a weak voice calling, “Hurry up, 
and get those things off of me before I am 
smothered.” Then Paul threw the papers 
and broken toys faster than ever, and soon 
they could see Japheth. He was lying 
under an old shoe, but they jerked him 
[ 100 ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


out and brushed off the dust and begged 
him to tell them how he came to be carried 
away in the dust-pan. 

“Why, I was taking a nap under the 
table,” he said, “ when a great hand 
with a brush in it pounced 
down and swept me 
along among soft gray 
rolls of dust, and the 
first thing I knew, 

— pop ! we went 
into this barrel.” 

“Well, Im 
glad you are 
found, for now 
we can start on the expedition,” said Noah. 

“What expedition ?” asked Paul. 

“ Oh, we are ark-aeologists, you know, and 
we were just going to start on an ark-aeo- 
logical expedition when we missed Japheth. 
Come on, now, and launch the ark.” 

[ 101 ] 



Swept me along among soft gray rolls of dust 





ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 

“Where are you going to launch it ? ” 

“In the brook back of the house. Come 
on.” 

“ I ’ll carry the ark for you,” said Paul, and 
they all started off, with the ark tucked under 
Paul’s arm. 

But they had gone only a little way when 
there was a loud boo-hooing, and it turned 
out that the Welsh Rabbit had eaten up all 
his toasted bread and they had forgotten to 
bring any more. 

“What shall we do ?” asked Noah. “We 
shall either have to leave him behind or else 
go back and get some, for a Welsh Rabbit 
without toasted bread is good for nothing.” 

“There’s some in the bread-box in the 
pantry,” said Paul. 

“I’ll get it,” spoke up the mouse, “for I 
know the way to get into the pantry.” So 
the mouse ran and brought back the toasted 
bread, and the Welsh Rabbit stopped crying, 
[ 102 ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


and soon the ark was floating in 
the brook and they were really 
off. There were little whirlpools 
that made the ark spin round and 
round, and there was a log lying 
right across the brook, but Paul 
lifted the ark over that and they 
went bobbing merrily along until 
crash ! they struck hard on a 
sharp piece of rock that cut a 
hole right through the bottom 



They had to swim for their lives 

l 103 ] 















ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


of the ark so that the water came pouring in 
and they had to swim for their lives. 

When they got to shore the blue paint was 
all washed off Ham’s trousers and there were 
red streaks on Mrs. Japheth’s face. The 
buttons had all been taken off Noah’s coat, 
and all the spots on the leopard were gone, 
which is a very extraordinary thing, as the 
leopard has never been known to change its 
spots before. 

“But we are all alive,” said Paul, “and we 
ought to be thankful for small things.” 

Now it was impossible to go any further 
in the ruined ark, but just then Shem had a 
bright idea. 

“ I should n’t wonder if the night-mare 
came along pretty soon,” he said. “It’s 
very apt to follow after the Welsh Rabbit, 
and we can get a ride perhaps.” 

Sure enough, there was the sound of 
horses’ hoofs, and up galloped a great, gaunt, 
[ io 4 ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


jet-black horse with white mane and tail and 
hoofs that were as large round as a small 
wash-tub. 

“Give us a ride, will you ?” they all cried ; 
and seeing his friend the Welsh Rabbit, the 
night-mare consented to let them scramble 
up onto his back. 

“We shall have to go west/’ said Ham, 
“ because the sun will soon be coming up in 
the east and the night-mare can’t travel by 
daylight.” 

The night-mare gave a shrill whinny and 
galloped off towards the west. They were 
riding over a wide prairie when suddenly, in 
the moonlight, a black shape appeared on the 
horizon and came rapidly toward them. Paul 
saw that it was a solitary rider sitting very 
straight in the saddle and using no reins at all, 
although the horse was coming at full speed. 

“ Here’s Young Lochinvar coming out of 
the west,” said Japheth. 

[ 105 ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


Young Lochinvar dashed by with a 
“Whoop—hullo!” and Paul saw that he 
had no arms like other people. 

“ What a handsome fellow he would be,” 
said Paul, “ if he only had some arms! ” 

“ Oh, he always goes like that; he rides 
'all un-armed and he rides all alone,’” and 
then Paul saw strapped on the saddle behind 
Young Lochinvar a pair of arms with white 
kid gloves on the hands, as if they were 
going to a ball. The night-mare now began 
to go more and more slowly, for as the morn¬ 
ing comes he loses all his strength. At last 
he stopped altogether. 

“ I will put you down here,” he said. “ Do 
you see that black line that stretches ahead 
as far as you can see ? That is the Equator. 
Just follow that and you will come back here 
all right and I will take you home again, but 
be sure not to step off the line or you will 
lose your way and never find this spot again.” 

[ 106 ] 



They were in terror lest they should step off and lose their way 


























ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


Then he sprang straight up into the air 
and vanished. 

Then Noah and his wife and his sons and 
their wives and Paul and all the animals took 
up their march along the Equator. They 
lifted their feet very carefully and aimed 
them again with great precision at the black 
line, for they were in terror lest they should 
step off and lose their way. For greater 
safety they took a long rope and each one 
knotted it tight around his waist and passed 
it on to the next man, who, after leaving a 
good space between them, tied it around his 
own waist, and so on, — just as people do 
who are climbing a dangerous mountain or 
glacier. Then if any one of them should 
slip off, he depended on the rest to pull him 
back by the rope. 

They had proceeded some distance in this 
fashion when they came upon a boy sprawl¬ 
ing across the Equator, face down, and 
[ iq 8 ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


groping around with his hands as if to 
find something. 

“ Come, get up,” said Noah; “ don’t you 
see you are blocking the track ? ” 

“ I can’t help it,” said the boy, “ I Ve lost 
my balance and I can’t get up or go on till 
I find it. Every time I start, I fall down 
again.” 

“There’s your balance behind that tree,” 
said Ham; and without thinking he stepped 
off the Equator and picked up a tiny pair 
of scales that lay on the ground. Then was 
seen the advantage of the rope, for they 
hauled him back into line, and as soon as 
the boy got his balance he jumped up and 
ran off, leaving the track clear. 

“ I think it’s about time we were begin¬ 
ning to dig,” said Shem. “ Ark-aeologists 
are always digging for things, you know,” 
he explained to Paul. 

Now when the ark was wrecked they had 
[ io 9 ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


lost all their shovels and pickaxes, but they 
pulled up plants and burrowed with their 
fingers in the loosened earth. It was full 
of roots, and every little rootlet had a small 
ivory cube dan¬ 
gling on it like the 
dice that Paul 
played Parchisi 
with, or else an 
ivory square about 
the size of a post- 
age-stamp. 

They were ex¬ 
tracting these 
square and cube roots as fast as they could, 
and filling their pockets, when Paul hap¬ 
pened to get hold of a bush that resisted all 
his strength and refused to be pulled up. 

At last, with a tremendous tug he brought 
it up, and there, twinkling among the roots 
were scores of five-dollar gold pieces. 

[ no ] 



With a tremendous tug he brought it up 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


“ That’s why it came so hard,” he thought. 

“ Let that alone, Paul,” cried Noah and 
H am and Shem and Japheth. 

“ Let that bush alone,” echoed the wives. 
“It’s the root of all evil.” 

Paul hastily dropped the shrub. 

“ Who’s that woman coming along the 
Equator ? ” he asked. 

“ Oh, my goodness! 11’s J oan,” they cried. 

“ Joan who ?” asked Paul. 

“Joan of Ark, of course. She belongs 
to us, but she’s always running off to help 
the Dauphin. That’s the Dauphin behind 
Joan.” 

Up they came, the Dauphin very much 
frightened at seeing so many strange peo¬ 
ple. He clung tight to Joan’s skirts and 
hung back, twisting his fingers about in his 
mouth. 

“Say, Joan, the ark is all broken,” they 
cried. 


[ in ] 


ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


Joan was looking 
dreamily over their 
heads, as if she only half 
heard what they said. 

“ Is that so? Well, 
I’d rather live in Or¬ 
leans, anyway; ” and she 
wandered on. 

“ I’m getting tired,” 
said Mrs. Noah. “It 
does n’t seem as if I 
could possibly walk 
way round the world 
on this Equator. Let’s 
go back the way we 
came.” 

“We shall have to 
walk backwards,” said 
Shem, “but it’s a good deal shorter.” 

So they backed along the Equator till 
they came to the spot where the night-mare 
[ H2 ] 









ARKONAUTIC EXPEDITION 


had left them. They had used up so much 
time on the expedition that they had only 
a few minutes to wait before the night-mare 
appeared. 

“ Hurry up. I have so many houses to 
visit to-night, I can’t wait,” it said. 

Hardly waiting for them to mount, it 
dashed away, and, if you listen to-night, 
perhaps you will hear the hoof-beats of the 
night-mare bringing back the ark-aeologists. 


[ 113 ] 



















































































































































IN THE MIZ 



|HE gutters were choked with 
deep, soft, white slush; the 
streets were broad rivers, and 
holes where horses’ feet had 
sunk in stood like little wells filled with icy 
water. There was a steady drip from the 
great icicle on the corner of the house, and 
Paul was amusing himself by seeing how 
many he could count after a drop fell be¬ 
fore another was ready to follow it. At 
last he opened the window and snapped 
off the end of the icicle, it looked so slender 
and brittle. 

“ Oh, my goodness! ” said a thin, sharp 
voice, “ you’ve pulled out a handful of my 
beard.” 

[ 1 17 ] 



IN THE MIZ 



Paul was startled. He 
leaned out of the window 
and looked up, nearly losing 
his balance. There, perched on 
the eaves of the house, was a 
little dried-up old man, and, 
hanging from his chin like a 
gray beard, ever so much longer 
than the little creature himself, 
was the icicle. 

“ I beg your pardon. I never 
thought of such a thing as the 
icicle—I mean the beard — being hitched 

[ n8 ] 


On the eaves of *== 
the house was 
a little dried- 
up old man 






















IN THE MIZ 


to anything, and, 
really, you know, 
it was only a small 
piece.” 

“Yes, thank For¬ 
tune,” said the little 
man. “ Only look ( 
at those poor fellows 
over there! ” and he 
pointed to the house 
next door where sat 
a row of little peo¬ 
ple like himself with 
only the stump of 
an icicle left on their 
chins. “ The house¬ 
maid came with a 
broom-handle, and 
whack, whack, whack 
she went till she had 
knocked them all off. 

[ ^ 



“ The housemaid came with a l 
handle " 

It is sad to see 
[ 9 ] 


them 







IN THE MIZ 


sitting there looking so disfigured and 
homely without any beards.” 

“ You have been here several days,” said 
Paul. 

“Yes, I came into town on the Green 
Mountain Flyer; that’s the train, you know. 
I was hanging onto the edge of the car. 
We ran into a snow-storm and stayed all 
night with the nose of the engine in a big 
drift. Then a lot of men came with shovels 
and another engine, and we pulled in with 
the two great engines panting and snorting 
and the windows all covered with frost 
pictures and snow. The people all looked 
very pale and worn, for they were hungry 
and cold and tired. Then the cars were 
sent into the yard to be cleaned for another 
trip and I skipped off and hung myself onto 
the north side of the church tower on the 
Common. It was the night before Christ¬ 
mas, and very soon a tall boy with bright 

[ I2 o ] 


IN THE MIZ 


brown eyes came running up the steps in¬ 
side the tower. Just then the clock struck 
twelve, and the boy began to ring the bells 
with all his might to tell the city that it 
was Christmas morning.” 

“What did the bells say?” asked Paul. 

“ Oh,” said the little man, “ they said : 

“ While shepherds watched their flocks by night, 
All seated on the ground; 

The Angel of the Lord came down, 

And glory shone around. 

“ ‘ Fear not,’ said he, for mighty dread 
Had seized their troubled mind, 

* Good tidings of great joy I bring 
To you and all mankind. 

“‘To you in David’s town this day 
Is born of David’s line 
The Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, 

And this shall be the sign. 

“ ‘ The heavenly Babe you there shall find 
To human view displayed, 

All meanly wrapped in swaddling bands 
And in a manger laid.’ ” 

[ 121 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


Then after he had rung the bells the boy 
went away, and I was very lonesome, he 
was such a nice boy. But he came again 
the next day, and twice on Sunday, and I 
grew very fond of him. It will be ten years 
before I can come here again, but when I 
do come I shall look first of all to see if he 
is the same fine boy. Oh, Paul, I should 
feel terribly if anything should happen to 
that boy with the bright brown eyes.” 

“How long shall you stay here?” asked 
Paul. 

“ That depends. I heard your grand¬ 
mother say that she thought this was the 
January thaw, and if it is, I must be going.” 

“H ow shall you go ? ” 

“ Oh, the thermometer will go up and I 
shall go with it.” 

“Up where ? ” asked Paul. 

“ Up to the North Pole, of course, where 
I belong.” 

[ 122 ] 


IN THE MIZ 

“Where is the North Pole?” questioned 
Paul again. 

“For pity’s sake,” said the Icicle, “do 
you study geography and not know where 
the North Pole is?” 

“ Why, nobody knows,” said Paul; “ people 
keep hunting for it all the time, and although 
a great many men have lost their lives, no 
one has ever found the pole.” 

“It’s plain enough,” said the Icicle. “It 
sticks right up out of the ground.” 

“Is the scenery pretty up there?” asked 
Paul. 

“ I don’t know,” answered his new friend ; 
“ I never saw it. You see the snow and ice 
cover up all the scenery.” 

“ Then if there is n’t anything pretty there, 
why do they want to find the North Pole?” 

“ I can’t imagine,” said the Icicle. 

Just then Paul’s mamma came up behind 
him and shut the window. 

[ 123 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


“You will catch your death o’ cold, my 
child,” she said. 

It seemed to Paul as if the whole house 
were afraid he would catch cold. Even 
grandma had made him a special kind of 
nightdress, for you must know that after 
Paul went to bed he sometimes used to 
dream that he was playing horse, and he 
would kick his feet about till all the bed¬ 
clothes were thrown on the floor; so grandma 
made him some red flannel suits with feet to 
them, and when he was all buttoned up, 
arms and legs and feet, in one of these, he 
could kick all he pleased, but he did n’t 
catch cold. 

Now this night he kept wondering when 
the icicle would go off, and at last he slipped 
out of bed and out onto the piazza where the 
big thermometer hung. He had just taken 
hold of it when a little boy popped out of 
it, saying briskly: 

[ I2 4 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


“ Going u— up ? ” and sure enough, up 
flew the thermometer with Paul hanging on 
the bottom of it. 

“ Here I go,” cried the 
Icicle, and caught hold 
also. 

After a while he took 
Paul’s hand. 

“We get off here,” he 
said, and dropped off the 
thermometer just as you 
sometimes see men 
spring off the back end 
of an electric car. 

It grew colder and 
colder. 

“ I’m glad I have my red flannel night¬ 
dress on,” said Paul, “ for grandma said I 
simply could n’t catch cold in that.” 

“All the same, I think you had better 
have a tippet round your neck,” said the 
[ 125 ] 







IN THE MIZ 


Icicle; and he snatched at a young fox that 
was running by. He twisted him firmly 
around Paul’s neck, knotting the tail tight 
around the head. The fur felt warm and 
soft. 

“ I’m afraid he will bite me,” said Paul. 

“ Oh, no,” said the Icicle, “ I saw a woman 
in Boston yesterday with a fox tied round 
her neck, head, claws and all. He may 
snap a little, but he’s tied too tight to reach 
your chin.” 

Now there had been a question in Paul’s 
mind for a long time, and it occurred to him 
that if the Icicle knew where the North 
Pole was, perhaps it could tell him the 
answer to his question also. 

“ Do you know, Mr. Icicle,” he began, 
“ where the Miz is?” 

“ The Miz ? Where did you ever hear of 
that?” said the Icicle. 

“Why, don’t you know — ‘In six days 
[ 126 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


God made heaven and earth, the sea and 
all that in “the Miz,”’ and I Ve looked in my 
geography and everywhere and I can’t find 
'the Miz.’ ” 

“Yes, I know where it is, and if you 
will answer my questions I think I can tell 
you. Now when you are in the hill-country 
and look off over there — (waving his hand 
towards the west) what do you see ? ” 

“ Broad green fields that roll on and on 
and on.” 

“ And behind those, what is there ? ” asked 
the Icicle. 

“ A long ridge with a scallopy top.” 

“ And on the ridge ? ” 

“ Pine trees that are dark and solemn 
looking.” 

“ And behind the trees ? ” 

“ The wide sky, orange colored, with purple 
clouds that have crinkly gold edges and 
streaks of crimson, and the big broad sun 
[ I2 7 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


half gone out of sight, glittering so bright 
that it makes you wink to look at it.” 

“ And behind that ? ” 

“ Why, — I don’t know,” said Paul. 

“ Behind that,” said the Icicle, solemnly, 
“is the Miz.” 

“ I wish I could go there,” said Paul. 

“You don’t go. The Miz comes to you. 
Now we will go and report to the frost 
giant at the North Pole and then I will 
bring the Miz to you for a few minutes.” 

At that moment Paul saw sticking out of 
the great fields of ice and snow a pole, not 
unlike an ordinary clothes-pole, against which 
leaned a huge misshapen figure made appar¬ 
ently of blocks of ice. One arm was twisted 
around the North Pole and the other rested 
on the head of a Polar Bear. The giant 
had two deep eyes that were blue like the 
color one sees in the heart of a great iceberg 
or the waters of Lake Lucerne. He looked 
[ 128 ] 





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IN THE MIZ 


at Paul with an icy stare and bowed stiffly. 
Paul felt a bit homesick, it was so still and 
solemn. 

“ That s a rather cold welcome,” said the 
Icicle, “but dear me! what can you expect 
at the North Pole? Don’t mind if he is 
cool to you. He can’t help it.” 

Then the Icicle stepped in front of the 
giant and saluted with his right hand, saying: 

“ O King, freeze forever! 

O King, melt thou never! ” 

“ Let me hear your report,” said the giant 
king of the North. 

“O King,” answered the Icicle, “ I have 
done thine errands. Six pairs of mens ears 
have I frozen, three miles of sidewalks have 
I made so slippery that the people cannot 
stand up on them, four water-pipes have I 
frozen so that the people can get no water 
to cook breakfast, one big boiler have 
9 [ 129 ] 


IN THE MIZ 

I burst, and seven plumbers have I made 
happy.” 

“ Very well done,” said the giant. 

Then the Icicle saluted again, saying: 

“ O King, freeze forever! 

O King, melt thou never!” 

“ Now for the Miz,” said he to Paul. 
“ I hope you won't be disappointed. I took 
a woman there once and she never saw or 
heard a single thing more than what any one 
can see any day. Sit right down here.” 

“ Why,” said Paul, “ are we going to 
church ? This is just where I sit every 
Sunday.” 

They really were in the back of the large 
church where Paul and his mother went 
every week. It was empty, and the organist 
was practising his music for the next day. 

“All you have to do is to sit here and 
listen,” said the Icicle; and Paul listened, 
[ 130 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


looking down the long centre aisle that 
seemed longer than ever, and appeared to 
stretch away into nothingness at the far¬ 
away chancel of the dim church. 

It happens now and then, as men are 
making history, that a mediaeval is born into 
the age of us moderns, or that an oriental 
is born into the Occident. You little people 
that are reading this will not know what that 
means, but your mammas will tell you that 
it means the same thing as when you are 
walking in the bare brown fields after the 
dead leaves rattle along and the honk of 
the wild goose sounds over the land, and 
come suddenly on a sweet, tiny violet, just 
one stray-away of spring, born into blue 
vigorous life in the midst of sere decay; 
or it means the same thing as when one 
sultry day in August you saw leaping out 
from among all the green leaves of the 

[ 131 1 


IN THE MIZ 


forest a single flaring scarlet branch, a vivid 
flame of color hanging over the edge of the 
still pond. 

Now Paul, perhaps, was one of these 
stray-aways. It is their peculiar privilege 
to see more, hear more, and suffer more than 
ordinary people, — but why don’t I go on 
with the story? Well, I will. And so it 
was, as the organ played first very soft, then 
louder and louder, with great crashing chords, 
that Paul saw the long aisle like a marble 
avenue, and there was a soft haze of a sweet 
piny-smelling smoke hanging over it; and 
there were things moving by the end of the 
avenue, that showed just a moment and then 
passed on into thick clouds of the smoke 
and disappeared. Paul watched. 

There was the beautiful arch of a rainbow 
that cast green and violet and rosy tints 
over a tall, square-sided, gray monument that 
lifted its pointed top almost to the sky, and 
[ !32 ] 

















































IN THE MIZ 


as these passed into the smoke that hid 
them, there came a faint sound in his ears as 
if a crowd of people a long way off had all 
shouted together. He leaned forward and 
listened, and heard the word “Hosanna!” 
Then it seemed to Paul as if some one 
waved the green branch of a palm-tree across 
his face and he caught a glimpse of blood- 
red banners that moved along in a stately 
way. H is face lighted up, for he thought 
he was going to see a procession, and Paul, 
like any other little boy, did like processions ; 
but the flaming banners also disappeared, 
and there was a man in gorgeous armor 
lying on the ground, dead, and in his fore¬ 
head was a great nail driven through both 
his temples. Paul shuddered, and hid his 
face in both his little hands for a while; 
but pretty soon he noticed a wonderful per¬ 
fume, that almost made him faint with its 
overpowering sweetness, and it seemed as 
[ i34 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


if the organ said “ Look up.” So he did, 
and the pale dead man was gone, and 
there were tall glittering white lilies grow¬ 
ing there, the largest and whitest Paul had 
ever seen. “It smells just like Easter,” said 
Paul, and sniffed three or four times the 
fragrance of the lilies; and just then there 
came up a slender golden crescent just as 
you often see the new moon come up in 
the sky. 

The tips of the crescent began to grow 
and stretch towards each other until Paul 
thought that they were going to make a 
complete circle like his mothers ring, but 
there came a man that held a cross in one 
hand and a great battle-ax in the other, and 
with the battle-ax he struck great ringing 
blows that chipped off the ends of the 
crescent. As fast as he knocked them off 
they grew again, and it seemed as if he 
would be crowded out of the circle; but 
[ i35 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


he struck harder and faster, and at last cut 
off such a great piece that it never grew 
again. 

Then the man sat down on the blunted 
horn of the crescent and wiped the great 
drops of sweat from his forehead, and 
caught his breath, while there rose a cry: 
“Europe is saved. Hurrah for Charles the 
H ammer! ” 

Then a puff of smoke blew across the 
end of the marble way, and when it was 
gone, Paul saw a great green dragon, some¬ 
thing like a tremendous serpent, coiling 
round and round and reaching up a hideous 
green head on its writhing, scaly neck. There 
was a young man with a sweet, stern face 
fighting with the dragon. He had a helmet 
on his head, and strong, beautiful, white 
wings folded behind his shoulders. There 
was the flash of one swift sword-thrust; 
the serpent sank down dead, and the young 
[ j 36 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


man stood over the dragon, leaning on his 
gleaming sword, and smiled. 

And Paul had a strange trembling feeling, 
as if the whole building were shaking and 
rocking ever so gently. It was like the jar 
of a railroad train. He couldn’t quite tell 
whether he heard something or whether he 
felt something, but all he could think of was 
a line in a poem that his mother used to 
read to him,— 

“. . . the measured tread of the grenadiers, 
Marching down to their boats on the shore.” 

And without thinking what he was doing, 
he began to mark time with his feet, — left, 
right; left, right. 

“You can’t help it, can you?” said the 
Icicle; “nobody ever could.” 

“ What is it ? ” asked Paul. 

“It is the tramp of Roman legionaries. 
The whole world has had to keep time to 
[ i37 ] 


IN THE MIZ 


it. It was a long time ago, but the world 
vibrates still to that tread, and always will.” 

Then a new sound came to Paul’s ears, 
— a strange, unearthly music. 

“It is the song of the Morning Stars,” 
said the Icicle. “Can you understand it?” 
And Paul saw the dark blue vaulted sky 
of early morning with the great stars, white 
and frosty, looking down; and the wild sweet 
song said: 

Peace, World ! o’er din of victory, 

Hear, raised from Heaven’s soldiery, 

A shout that bounds from star to star — 

“ The Son of God goes forth to war!' 

Then the smoke rolled down the marble 
avenue thicker and thicker, and the great 
billows wafted Paul away, away — out of 
the church — home. 

“Good-bye, Paul. Not again for ten 
years, you know,” said the Icicle. 

So Paul was “in the Miz.” 

[ i38 ] 












THE KATARASIS OF PAUL 


AUL did not always live in 
the city. When the days came 
that the sun felt able to sit up 
a little later and not go to bed 
before supper, when the air 
was full of the smell of the good brown 
earth freshly ploughed up and of new green 
things growing in warm showers of rain that 
dropped so easily from scurrying clouds, and 
there was a soft pink haze over all the tree- 
tops, then Paul’s papa and mamma would 
look at each other across the breakfast table, 
and say: “The hill-country is calling us, 
don’t you think ? ” and then Paul would 
know that they were going to move into the 
summer home in the country. He was al- 
[ Hi ] 






THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


ways glad, for Paul loved the gates of the 
hill-country more than all the cobble-stones 
of Boston. 

Now on this particular morning, if you 
had been coming up the long country road, 
you would scarcely have known it was Paul 
sitting in the deep window-seat of his home, 
for his forehead was puckered into cross 
wrinkles and the corners of his mouth tipped 
down, and he did n’t look a bit happy. 
Neither was he, for he was in that frame 
of mind where he felt how nice it would be 
if only his mother were like John Jones’s 
or Sam Brown’s. They never said “No” 
to John and Sam, and Paul’s mother had 
said “No” to him three times that very 
morning. She had also said that he must 
not leave his lessons to play out of doors 
until half-past ten. 

Oh, what a long time! The sun was so 
bright! Paul could hear a yellow-hammer 
[ 142 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


pounding a tree and whistling, and there was 
a striped chipmunk running along the 
wall. He never could 
stand it, and, tucking 
his slate away, Paul 
jumped right out of 
the long window and 
ran down the road. 

As he turned the 
bend he saw an old 
woman just 
ahead of 
him push¬ 
ing a hand¬ 
cart. She 


He didn't look a bit happy 


and a big apron, and she wore a round black 
chip hat tied down under her chin. 

[ H3 ] 














THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


“ There is Granny White,” he thought, 
“ peddling eggs and butter; ” and he ran to 
catch up with her, for she always carried 
peppermints in her pocket and gave them 
to little boys. When she looked around, 
Paul saw that it was not Granny White, 
nor any one that he had ever seen, but she 
was such a kind-faced old lady that Paul 
said as politely as he could, “ Let me help 
you push the cart.” 

The cart was heavy and the wheels sank 
deep in the sand, but he pushed with might 
and main, and soon they came to the top 
of the hill. 

“You are a fine, generous lad,” said the 
old woman. “Now who would ever think 
you had been such a naughty boy at home 
this morning ? ” 

Paul hung his head. 

“ I’m sure you ’re going straight back to 
do the arithmetic,” said she, patting his head, 
[ i44 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


and then she stepped over the stone wall 
and was gone. 

Paul stood on tip-toes and looked on the 
other side of the wall, and up and down 
the road, but there was n’t a sign of her, 
and, if you will believe me, although he 
could see every one of his own footprints 
in the loose sand of the road, there was n’t 
a single trace of the old woman’s shoes or 
of the cart-wheels. 

“ Why, where has she gone ? ” he thought, 
“ and how did she know I had been bad ? 
Anyway, I’m not going home, I’m going to 
climb the old apple-tree.” 

He climbed to his favorite branch, which 
was shaped like a horse’s back, and sat 
astride of it, making believe he was Napo¬ 
leon riding into a battle. But after a little 
he began to feel queer. 

The sun had gone in, and the sky was 
a cold gray all over. No teams went along 

10 [ H5 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


the road, and no voices of men working in 
the fields gave a pleasing sense of security. 
A great black crow flapped slowly over the 
mowing and lighted on a dead tree near by. 
He stayed there a long time, watching Paul. 
Paul wished he would go away. The swal¬ 
lows began to be restless, and flew hurriedly 
about, swooping at Paul so close that he 
could catch the iridescent blue sparkle of 
their backs. What if they should peck his 
eyes out ? Paul began to look very sober, 
and at last he got down from the tree and ran 
across the field. Then it was that the big 
black crow on the dead tree took a sudden 
flight. Paul suddenly felt himself moving 
through the air. He looked up, but it was 
black as night over his head. He put up his 
hand to feel where he was, and touched 
a soft downy thing like feathers. He felt 
something tight around his waist and strug¬ 
gled to get free, when a rough voice said: — 

[ 146 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


“ Keep still! Here come the king-birds ! ” 
Then Paul knew that the big crow had 
picked him up and was holding him tight 
under his wing with one claw. He knew 
that the king-birds hate the crows, for he 
had seen them chase and peck the crows 
and steal their food. Then there was a race 
indeed. The crow flew faster and faster. 
The king-birds chased him, for they thought 
Paul was some great piece of food and 
wanted him; but the crow dodged and 
dipped and circled, and flew faster than 
ever, and at last the great wings ceased to 
flap and they sank down into a pine forest. 

“ Here, youngsters,” cawed the crow, drop¬ 
ping Paul into the midst of some great awk¬ 
ward creatures with hardly any feathers, and 
with bills that were wide open all the time. 
They were in the top of a pine about thirty 
feet from the ground, in a rough mass of 
twigs, feathers, twine, grasses, and moss, all 

[ H7 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


woven together loosely into a great bristly 
bunch, not at all pretty, — a very slack nest. 

“ Shall we eat him ? ” said the young 
crows, so eagerly that Paul jumped. 

“Why, no. I would n’t; that is, not just 
yet. Play with him while I go and get you 
something for dinner.” 

Off flew the old crow, and the young birds 
began to talk to Paul. 

“Can’t you curl your legs up a little 
tighter?” they said. “If you don’t, we 
shall push you out of the nest,” said one. 

“ Oh, dear,” thought Paul, “ my legs do 
ache so, all squeezed up in this shape; ” but 
still he tried to curl them up, for he had no 
desire to be shoved out of the nest and fall 
thirty feet. 

Then the young crows began to play with 
a little piece of broken crockery. It was the 
handle of an old mug, and Paul could n’t help 
saying: — 


[ 148 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


“ You ought to see my playthings at home. 
I Ve got a — ” 

“ Don’t talk to us about your home. If it 
was so very 
fine, why 
did n’t you 
stay there ? 

B e gg a r s 
should n’t 
be choos- 

j) 

ers. 

“ I’m not 
a beggar,” 
said Paul, the 

tears coming into his eyes. Z'" 

“Yes, you are. Don’t 
contradict, or we shall shove you 
out of the nest;” and they be- “ Push 

J out of the 

gan to squirm around as if they nest! ” 
were really going to do it. Soon 
Paul saw them all stretch up their necks, 

[ i49 ] 










THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


and open their bills wider than ever, and 
begin to caw and scream. Then he saw 
that the old crow had come back. She had 
a few worms, a kernel of corn, and a little 
field-mouse, which she gave them for din¬ 
ner. Paul was terribly hungry, but he 
could n’t eat worms and mice, and the crows 
were too greedy to urge him to do so. 

“ I shall starve, I certainly shall,” he said. 

“ Say, mother, when are we going to fly ? ” 
asked the youngsters. 

“ Very soon now; but do be careful. Just 
over there is a field of nice corn. Don’t go 
near it. You will know it by the red rags 
flying from the corners of it, and there is a 
man there with a gun. Keep away.” 

“ Oh,” said Paul, just here catching sight 
of something very bright and glittering in 
the nest, “ there’s my mother’s ring; ” and he 
picked up a gold ring with a diamond in it. 
“ She lost it last week, and we have hunted 

[ 150 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


and hunted. How pleased she will be that 
we have found it! ” 

“ Found it ? Indeed ! ” cawed all the 
crows together; “ that is ours. Our mother 
brought it to us to play with.” 

“ But my mother lost it on the lawn, and I 
must take it home to her,” said Paul. 

“ Push him out of the nest! ” cawed the 
eldest crow, and with a sharp peck she 
snatched the ring out of Paul’s fingers while 
the others all spread out their wings and 
nestled about and crowded Paul nearer and 
nearer to the edge of the nest. Over he 
went, and began to fall down — down. The 
branches of the pine slapped against his face 
as he fell. He caught at them, but they 
slipped through his hands, and on he fell 
with only a few pine needles clutched in 
his fingers. It was such a very tall tree, 
and such a long way to the foot. 

“ Oh, how I shall bump my head when I 
[ i5i ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


strike the ground ! ” thought Paul; but just 
then there came walking through the woods 
an old woman, the very same one that Paul 
had helped with the hand-cart in the morning. 
She looked up and saw Paul bouncing from 
branch to branch, and, running under the 
tree, she stretched out her big blue and 
white checked apron with both hands, and 
plump ! down came Paul right into the apron, 
and the old woman gathered up the corners 
in a jiffy, so that he was n’t hurt a bit; only 
his breath was all gone. 

The old woman set him on his feet and 
asked, “Well, how did you like your new 
home ? ” 

“ It was horrid,” said Paul. “ They 
were always scolding and quarrelling, and 
I had nothing to eat and nothing to play 
with.” 

“ Then let us go home to your mamma 
and say you are sorry for being naughty.” 

[ 152 ] 



Down came Paid right into the apron 










































































THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


Paul looked at the ground and dug a 
little well in the pine needles with his toe. 
“ N—n—no, I should have to do arith¬ 
metic,” he said. 

“Very well,” said the old woman, “only 
remember that if you don’t do the arith¬ 
metic it will do you;” and she stepped be¬ 
hind a tree. Paul ran round and round 
it, and even looked up into the trees, but 
could n’t find her anywhere. He started 
to call her, but not knowing her name, 
could think of nothing but “ Old woman,” 
and that does n’t sound polite, he thought. 
Now if he had been a car-conductor, he 
would have called “ Ma’am ! ” or “ Lady ! ” 
but he was n’t; and if his mother had not 
told him never to call people “ Say! ” he 
would have called out, “ Say, where are 
you ? ” 

So he stumbled along by himself till he 
came to a clearing. There were bright red 
[ *54 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


flags fluttering on the edges of it, and in the 
middle of the field stood a tall, thin man 
with a gun pointing straight at Paul. 

“ This is the field that the crow does n’t 
dare to come into,” thought Paul. “ I 
shall be safe here,” and he ran over to the 
man. 

“ You ’re a fine scarecrow, are n’t you ? ” 

“ Yes,” answered the man ; “ not a crow 
has come into this corn-patch since I have 
stood here.” 

Then Paul told the scarecrow about his 
fright and his fall, and the scarecrow was 
so sympathetic that they became great 
friends. 

“ I wish you would go home with me,” 
said Paul. “ I want my mother, and I’m so 
hungry; but I don’t dare go alone for fear 
the crows will get me again, and this time 
perhaps they will eat me.” 


[ J 55 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 

“Well, now, partner, I’m right sorry, but 
you see it's this way. Farmer Jones put me 
here to see that no crows got at his corn, and 
if I should leave the field and go home with 
you, they might pull it all up while I was 
gone. A good soldier stays till his work is 
done, and here I must stand, no matter how 
hard the rain pelts and how hot the sun 
shines, and how much I may want to take 
a walk with a fine young gentleman like 
yourself.” 

Then Paul blushed when he thought how 
easily he had given up and run away from 
his lessons, and he straightened his small 
shoulders and said: 

“ I ’ll go home all by myself and do my 
lessons.” 

“ Good boy,” said the scarecrow, “ and 
I ’ll lean way over and watch you down the 
long lane to see that you get there safe.” 


[ 156 ] 

















































THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


So Paul started on the run. He stopped 
at the turn of the lane and waved his hand 
to the scarecrow* who was 
leaning over till he 
almost lost his bal¬ 
ance to see around 
the corner. Just at 
the end of the 
lane Paul saw the 
old woman trudg¬ 
ing along ahead of 
him. 

She knew he was 
coming, for she was 
a fairy, and could 
see out of the back 
of her head, so she turned round, and, smiling 
all over, said : 

“That’s a good boy, Paul. Never be a 
coward. There is a wicked fairy in this 



He almost lost his balance to see around 
the corner 


[ 157 ] 




THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


world, and his name is ‘ Fear.’ Don’t ever 
give in to him.” 

Paul rushed in to his mother, who was 
glad enough to see him. 

“Why, Paul, where have you been with 
Granny White ? ” she asked. “ I saw you 
coming down the road with her.” 

“ That is n’t Granny White, it’s a fairy,” 
he said; and he told his mother what an un¬ 
happy day he had had, and how sorry he 
was. H is mother smiled and gave him 
some luncheon, but Paul was so tired that 
he fell asleep while he was trying to tell her 
that young crows eat field-mice and worms 
instead of bread and jam and baked apples. 
The wind rose and howled round the corners; 
it began to thunder and lighten, and the rain 
came down with a great swishing sound, but 
Paul slept through it all, and all that night 
he slept without turning over. But just as 


[ i58 ] 


THE KATABASIS OF PAUL 


soon as his lessons were done in the morn¬ 
ing he dragged his mother by the hand 
to see his friend the scarecrow, and sure 
enough, there was the good fellow leaning 
way over till he almost tipped headlong to 
the ground. 



[ i59 ] 
































































